


If The Fates Allow

by lunarknightz



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types, Terminator Genisys (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Mentions of Death, Time Travel, mentions of destiny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 14:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8756263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarknightz/pseuds/lunarknightz
Summary: Skynet changes history once more, sending Kyle from the dark Genisys timeline back to 1980, causing Pops to be raising the teenage parents-to- be of the savior of mankind.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Unforgotten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforgotten/gifts).



_November, 1980_

 

This was not the Kyle Reese that Sarah Connor was expecting. 

For years, Pops had told her about Kyle Reese, the man she was destined to be with. Pops wasn’t a good storyteller (to be fair, storytelling wasn’t exactly in his programming, and he was, hello, a robot). The descriptions of the man she was meant to be with were clinical and dull. Kyle Reese was brave. Kyle Reese was a good soldier.   Sarah had fantasized over what Kyle would look like. Sometimes he was tall, sometimes he was short, and as of Sarah’s daydreams of late, he looked an awful lot like Harrison Ford. 

But in her fantasies, Kyle Reese had never looked anything like this.

Kyle Reese was huddled over the inert and deactivated form of a female terminator, his eyes clouded with tears. “I don’t understand!” He cried, his voice cracking. “I just want to go home!”

  “Kyle Reese. This is your home now.” Pops stated matter of factly. “It is crucial to the future of mankind that you survive.” Terminators were not known for their matters of tact, again, so not part of their programming.

Sarah stepped in, feeling a little bit protective of the kid. At fifteen, she’d been living a life on the run from the future for six years, and was used to it, in a strange, weird, sad way. This was her life now.

“It gets better, kid.” She said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Strange but true.”

Kyle Reese was twelve years old. In order to save his life (and the future) the Resistance had sent back a terminator robot to protect him. Things had apparently went south, exactly how, Sarah wasn’t sure, but it ended up with twelve year old Kyle being sent back through time, back to her and Pops here in 1980. 

Sarah shrugged off her jacket, and put it around Kyle’s shoulders. It was a warm summer night, but time travel didn’t allow you the luxury of arriving clothed.   “We’ll get you some clothes. And some food.” 

“I want my Mom. And my Dad.” He frowned.

  Kyle Reese was supposed to be her knight in shining armor. But he was just a kid who hadn’t even gone through puberty yet. The future was a bitch.

 

    ****

 

_March, 1981_

 

  “‘I’m soooo bored.” Kyle sighed, flopping down on the couch beside Sarah. “There is nothing to do here.”  

Sarah rolled her eyes. After the kid had gotten over the shock of his parents’ murder and his trip through time, all that the kid seemed to do was whine. He whined about food, he whined about the weather and technology, and just about everything under the sun. 

Sarah was sure that she hadn’t been so annoying at twelve. Some days, it took everything in her tie the kid up and duct tape his mouth shut so he would just be _silent_ for even just a _moment_ , so there would be a sense of peace for once.

  “We’ve spent all day going over weapons with Pops. And it doesn’t look like the apocalypse is nigh, on today, so I am going to watch TV. Surely, they still had television in the future, didn’t they?”

“Well, yeah. But there’s better stuff on TV in the future. And if you can’t find anything good on TV, there’s dvds and Netflix, and the internet. There’s like a million and a half options of things to do. You have to try really hard in the future not to be bored.”

  “No wonder you’re so homesick. But since I’ve yet to had the pleasure of experiencing the future, I am going to carpe diem, seize the day and enjoy what television is on. I suggest you give it a try. Or go grab a book or something. Do something to enrich your mind. Play a board game.”  

“You are so lame.” He sighed.

  “Yeah, right, squirt. Pot calling the kettle black.” Sarah turned on a sitcom and let the opening music play. 

“I’ve already seen this one.” Kyle squeaked. “On Hulu. Something really cool that you don’t have. Like i-Phones. And Bluetooth speakers.”  “We have hula-hoops. You can go crazy with that one. Build up some muscles or something. And we can get you a Slurpee if you want blue teeth.”

“Whatever, Sarah.” Kyle growled. “You are totally uncool.” 

“Truly, Kyle, you wound me to the core.” Sarah rolled her eyes. 

 

 ****

 

_November, 1982_

 

“I can’t believe you!” Sarah yelled at Pops. “I thought your whole reason for existing was to keep us safe!”  

“My main mission parameters are to keep Sarah Connor safe until she can conceive and give birth to John Connor. Keeping Kyle Reese safe so he can father her child is also part of my overall purpose in being here.”  

“And you didn’t keep him safe!” Sarah said, “He’s broken!”

  “He will still be able to perform the necessary duties to father offspring when the time comes.”

  “Well, of course!” Sarah stuttered. “He’s got a broken arm because you let him go ice skating!”

“Ice skating is a safe and recreational activity that will keep Kyle Reese in peak physical condition so his sperm count will be in the necessary level required for conception to be likely to occur. I would not know that Kyle Reese is as you have stated, a “Mega-Klutz.” Such knowledge is not in my data banks.”

“He’s from California! They don’t have an abundance of ice in California!”  

 

“You are fond of the child.”

 

  “He kind of grows on you. Like a fungus.” Sarah admitted. “Will your mission parameters allow you to go get Tylenol so he’s not in agonizing pain for the rest of the night?”

  “I’ll be back.” Pops nodded. 

The phrase seemed strangely familiar.

 

   
 *****

 

_May, 1983_

 

Kyle ran into the apartment they were currently crashing in, slamming the door behind him.   “Kyle!” Sarah exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

 

  “I…just…leave me alone!” He yelled. “I can’t talk to you right now. I just can’t!”

Sarah frowned. This was way unlike Kyle. He’d grown up in the last three years, going from a kid that most of the time she wanted to throw through the wall, to a guy that she considered a friend. Really, he was her best friend. Being on the run from a future entity with killer robots destined to kill you didn’t lead to having much of a social life. Kyle Reese wasn’t the smoothest operator in the book, but he had a great sense of humor and he could make her laugh like no one else.   She was really worried about Kyle. 

When Pops came in the door a few minutes later, she pounced on him. “What happened? What did you do to Kyle?”

“I did nothing to Kyle Reese. Physical indicators show that Kyle is reaching maturity and is of an acceptable age that he could begin breeding procedures. Programming dictated that Kyle Reese be prepared sufficiently for such matters.”

 “You had the talk with him? God, Pops, you just don’t do that to a kid!” Sarah exclaimed. “You’ve warped him for life!”

“It was time.”

“How do you know it was time?” Sarah snarked, her hands on her hips.  “Hormone levels when Kyle Reese is around Sarah Connor show that he is physically attracted and may be ready to do what needs to be done to ensure the birth of John Connor.”

“Every time,” Sarah spat in anger, “I forget that you’re a machine, you do something like this that makes me remember. You’re a machine. Only a machine, and I’m just a mission to you. That’s all Kyle and I are to you. A friggin mission.” Sarah turned and ran out of the room, running towards Kyle’s doorway.   

She pounded on Kyle’s bedroom door. “Let me in you nerf herder.”

“Sarah, I really can’t do this now.” Kyle said, pushing the door open slightly. 

“I’m sorry. Pops shouldn’t have done that. I mean, he should have warned you, or warned me, or something. I mean, there’s nothing worse than getting the sex talk from an android, am I right?”

“My Dad…” Kyle said, nervously, shuffling his feet from side to side, “kind of already gave me the sex talk. I know the mechanics and all. I just wasn’t…”  

“Expecting to be told about your child that would save the world?”

  “Yeah, that.”  

“I get that.”  

“I’d imagine, yeah. It’s just kind of scary. Sarah, you’re my best friend, and I’d be lying if I said that I’d never ever thought about you, and us, and…but…”

  “We’re in different places. You’re fifteen. I’m eighteen, and that’s pretty much illegal, and I, I’m…”  

“Not ready.” They both said at the same time.  

“Regardless of what Pops says, or hell, what the future says, we’ve got a choice.” Sarah declared. “This is our lives, and our bodies, and we have a say over what we do with them. If we get together and have some kind of savior child, or if we don’t, that is up to us. If it happens, when it happens. I just know that you are my best friend, and I couldn’t deal with not having you in my life. Promise me that you won’t leave me, Kyle.”

  “That’s a promise that I can make.” He said, pulling her close. “I’ll always be here.”

 

****

 

_July 1985_

 

“Is she going to be okay?” Kyle said, looking at Sarah, asleep in the hospital bed. They didn’t visit hospitals often, out of necessity to stay off of the grid and away from Skynet. This visit had been a necessity, and they’d signed in to the hospital under assumed names, which Kyle had drawn on from his memories of Nick-at-Nite in the future. Pops was Ross Geller, The sick Sarah was Rachel Greene, and he’d given his own name as Chandler Bing. 

 

 “Her appendix burst. She has received proper medical attention and should have no further complications.” Pops said, matter of factly. “Once she awakens we will need to be on the move again.” Pops frowned. “I am noticing Kyle Reese that your blood glucose levels are getting low. I will acquire the nutrition that you seek. I’ll be back.” 

Kyle nodded and let him go.

“You really scared me.” He whispered to Sarah, “We keep on worrying about weapons and monsters, and your own body just about does you in. Life’s a bitch, huh? I’m taking your silence as meaning you agree with me.”

 

 He looked at Sarah, sleeping from the medication she’d been given for the surgery. She looked like an angel, a beautiful, beautiful angel. In that moment, he knew. He’d fallen in love with her despite of himself.

“Shit.” Kyle cursed, because what else could he do?

 

*****

 

_February, 1986_

 

When 1984 happened, and the world didn’t end, it felt like a gift. According to Pops, in the original timeline, 1984 was when Skynet first attacked. 1984 is when the original Kyle Rees travelled back from the future and fathered John Connor. When 1985 came and went as well, it felt like a false prophecy, that everything would be okay and that killer robots from the future were a horrid fairy tale that didn’t actually exist.

It had not escaped Sarah’s attention that Kyle Reese had grown up quite nicely. Puberty had been kind to him, making him taller, muscled but lean, and quite attractive. Her feelings for the kid had grown and changed over the years. He had dark blondish brown hair and eyes that seemed to sparkle with an inner light. The reality of Kyle Reese had grown into a man that was more attractive than she ever fantasized.

For the longest time, Kyle had been the little brother that she’d never had. And then, he’d morphed into an ally, another passenger on the crazy “I’m Raised by a Killer Android!” train. He was her best friend, and Sarah could no more cut him out of her life than she could cut off her right foot. She needed him. And as they both grew older, her feelings began to shift and change. She hadn’t been ready when Pops gave the talk. She wasn’t sure she was ready now. But the thought of Kyle being with someone else…made her sick to her stomach.

 

 He wasn’t supposed to date. But it was Valentine’s Day, and he was dating a blonde waitress named Debbie. And that felt totally wrong.  Pops totally should have given him a curfew. Yeah, he was eighteen now, but still. He was a kid. A stupid kid who was probably going to get himself hurt or killed, and they’d have to risk everything to try and save him, and who stayed out this late anyway? Sarah was livid. It was midnight. He should be home by now. This was a first date, for crying out loud.

“Finally!” Sarah pounced on him fifteen minutes later when he came in the door. “Where have you been?”

  “Out. You should try it sometime.”

  “Very funny.” Sarah sighed. “You shouldn’t have been out so late.”  

“I’m eighteen. I’m an adult, and I do not have to answer to you, Sarah. What in the hell has gotten into you?”

  “I was worried, okay? You could have called.”  

“Yeah, if I was in the future back where everyone carried a phone around in their pocket. For the life of me, I still can’t understand why anybody would use a pay phone. You know I never remember to have change in my pocket.”

  “It’s a quarter to call someone who cares. Why in the hell can’t you get that through your thick skull?”

“I’ve had a great day, and I’m not going to let you ruin this for me. I’m going to bed.”  

“I’m not done talking with you, Kyle!”

  “But I’m done talking with you!” He yelled. “Just leave me alone, Sarah!” Kyle stomped away from her.

“Kyle Reese, I swear if you don’t get back here and listen to me, then I’ll…”

“Then you’ll what?” He said, turning around.

  “I’ll…be very angry.” She said, her face flushed.

 “Oh, far be it from me to anger the _Great Sarah Connor_.” Kyle mocked her as he walked closer to her, 

“That’s hardly fair.”

“I don’t understand what in the hell I did to get you so upset. I thought you and Pops wanted me to assimilate to life in the 1980s better. So I was out among the people, trying to do what a normal eighteen year old would do. What is so wrong about that?” 

 

“You’re going to leave.”  

“I’m not going to leave. I’m still here.” Kyle said, reaching out and grabbing her hand. “I promised.”  

“There is something wrong with me. I’m cursed. Everyone I love dies.” Sarah said, fighting back a sob. “Because I’m the mother of the great John Connor, everyone I love dies. And you’re going to die, and it will be my fault. Even before I met you, I was told, you’ll love Kyle Reese, and he’ll die. And even though I try to fight it and…” Sarah shook her head, “I’m sentencing you to die by caring about you. You’re going to die because I love you.”

Kyle stood, frozen as her words sunk in. He stared at her, as if he was seeing her for the first time. In a single instant, he closed the space in-between them and took Sarah into his arms. He lowered his lips to hers, and kissed her deeply. She responded, opening her lips and deepening the kiss. 

After a moment that seemed both too short and too long, they broke apart.  

“I may die. I can’t promise you that I’m never going to die, but I promise you that I will fight with every fiber and every bit of my being to stay alive. The future may say that we’re supposed to die but I am going to fight that future. Seems like our side has managed to change the future before, and I will do it again, and again, and again if need be. I’m never going to stop fighting for you, Sarah. I love you. And I will fight with you, and for you until my very last breath.”

“But…John….if we…he..”

  “We can’t live our lives waiting for tomorrow. Sarah, we have to live for today. Nobody is promised tomorrow, destiny, robots, Skynet or not. And I will love you today, and for every single one of my todays. And we will take this, as slow as you need. The future…”  Kyle’s train of thought was lost as Sarah drew him close and kissed him.

 

Kyle Reese was not what she had expected. 

 

He was more.

**Author's Note:**

> Unforgotten, I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it for you! Thanks for the excellent prompt!


End file.
